Can Ed's goodbye really be hello?

Ed Augustus has finally announced that he's absolutely, positively not a candidate for the city manager post. So I say it's high time we give it to him.

By deciding that he won't go after the job, he just became a most appealing candidate. By taking himself out of the running, we now want to chase him with a butterfly net. To paraphrase Renée Zellweger in Jerry Maguire, he had us at goodbye.

"I just can't go back on what I said," Augustus told T&G reporter Nick Kotsopoulos last week. "Integrity is something that is very important for a city manager, but if you do something that causes the public to question your integrity, it greatly diminishes your ability to lead."

OK, so lead, already! Integrity, shmegrity!

If nothing else, our introspective city manager has provided fascinating fodder for political junkies. When hired as a short-term successor to Michael O'Brien, Augustus announced that he would return to his job at the College of the Holy Cross when his nine-month contract ended, mostly to appease the critics who claimed the deal was an inside bag job for the politically connected former state senator. He even had such wording written into his employment agreement.

So Augustus is hired, and turns out he likes the job. And the City Council likes him in it. Everyone says he's doing great, even though he has yet to be spotted striding forcefully around the Common in a baseball cap during a snowstorm. But Augustus is a quick learner, and forceful striding is a skill easily taught.

So now city leaders have a problem. They want Augustus to take the job, but must proceed with public "listening sessions" purported to glean input from residents about the qualities they want in the new city manager. But suspicions that the sessions were staged rallies for Augustus were heightened when more than one resident claimed they want a "very tall" manager who "happens to share the name of a deceased Roman emperor."

Meanwhile, Augustus is deeply conflicted. He's spotted more than once wandering the stairwells of City Hall in the dark, like he's being followed by Banquo's ghost. He loves Worcester, but his reputation means a lot to him. He likes his job as director of government and community relations at Holy Cross, but running an urban city is way more interesting than ringing doorbells on Caro Street and urging rowdy students to please keep it down.

All of which is ripe for selective interpretation. Critics say he's terminally indecisive; supporters say he's deliberate and thoughtful. Critics call him a political insider; supporters say he has good contacts. Critics say the city needs a professional manager from outside the city; supporters note that, if Augustus doesn't take the job, we'll be forced to suffer through months of hearings run by City Councilor Phil Palmieri. Support promptly shifts to Augustus.

Last Wednesday, though, Augustus announced he's out, saying he enjoys the job but won't go back on his word. This prompted colleague Tom Caywood to sum up the drama on Twitter: "Only in Worcester does a city official have to announce that he's not a candidate for a job his contract explicitly bars him from seeking."

But contracts are made to be broken, of course, and this one is no exception. So now that Augustus has displayed the integrity to turn down a job he actually wants, he deserves to be hired. The city could do a lot worse, although his affinity for municipal unions needs watching.

He had us at goodbye. So it's time to say hello, and give this guy another look. And it's time for Ed Augustus, who has proven so adept at rumination, to reconsider one more time.